Mumbai Terrorism: Who Did It?

India and the US intelligence have known the existence of militant/terrorist camps in Pakistan for two decades but have mysteriously hesitated in squashing them. But post-Mumbai terrorist attacks the US administration has finally woken up to the gravity of the situation…

And Pakistan had no option but to act. (Hope it is not an eyewash). A recent report says that Pakistan troops have captured the alleged mastermind of Mumbai terror attack.

“Security forces overran a militant camp on the outskirts of Pakistani Kashmir’s main city and seized an alleged mastermind of the attacks that shook India’s financial capital last week, two officials said Monday.” More here…

It may be useful to remember that Pakistan being the US ally for over half a century learns a great deal from the latter’s intelligence/diplomatic stance. The CIA has in all these years maintained a big and powerful station in Peshawar (the most volatile region in Pakistan)….and it does not seem to know what’s going on…wow!!!!

Let me quote from The Guardian article of 2001. ” ‘If any government sponsors the outlaws and killers of innocents,’ George Bush announced on the day he began bombing Afghanistan, ‘they have become outlaws and murderers themselves. And they will take that lonely path at their own peril.’

“I’m glad he (Bush) said ‘any government’, as there’s one which, though it has yet to be identified as a sponsor of terrorism, requires his urgent attention.

“For the past 55 years it has been running a terrorist training camp, whose victims massively outnumber the people killed by the attack on New York, the embassy bombings and the other atrocities laid, rightly or wrongly, at al-Qaida’s door.

“The camp is called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, or Whisc. It is based in Fort Benning, Georgia, and it is funded by Mr Bush’s government.

“Until January this year, Whisc was called the ‘School of the Americas’, or SOA. Since 1946, SOA has trained more than 60,000 Latin American soldiers and policemen.

“Among its graduates are many of the continent’s most notorious torturers, mass murderers, dictators and state terrorists. As hundreds of pages of documentation compiled by the pressure group SOA Watch show, Latin America has been ripped apart by its alumni.” More here…

“Arno Mayer, Emeritus Professor of History at Princeton University, has stated that ‘since 1947 America has been the chief and pioneering perpetrator of ‘preemptive’ state terror, exclusively in the Third World and therefore widely dissembled’.

“Noam Chomsky also argues that ‘Washington is the center of global state terrorism and has been for years.’ Chomsky has characterized the tactics used by agents of the U.S. government and their proxies in their execution of U.S. foreign policy — in such countries as Nicaragua — as a form of terrorism and has also described the U.S as ‘a leading terrorist state.’

“After President George W. Bush began using the term ‘War on Terrorism’, Chomsky stated in an interview:The U.S. is officially committed to what is called ‘low-intensity warfare’…

“If you read the definition of low-intensity conflict in army manuals and compare it with official definitions of ‘terrorism’ in army manuals, or the U.S. Code, you find they’re almost the same.” More here…

Pakistan learnt its lessons well and has successfully waged a low intensity war against India for the past two decades. India has not retaliated so far because of the reported pressure from the US administration.

Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department's SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF's Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on "Development Journalism" to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India --- West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.

Holly_in_Cincinnati

I lived at Fort Benning as a child (my father was an Army dentist) and am insulted by suggestions that there is any sort of equivalency between the School of the Americas and a terrorist training camp.

I also warn everyone against believing anything that Noam Chomsky has ever said, is saying, or has yet to say. I don't.

WilRobinson

I see Holly in Cincinnati is still safely in her bubble…

Interesting point, Swaraaj. I wonder how many officers in the Pak military and ISI have gone through the same school (or through similar ones in Ft. Leavenworth, KS). I know al Haq was always a favorite…

It seems the root of the problem is that we (America/gov't/politicians) too often view more violence, more guns, or more war as an answer to violence, guns, and war.

Beyond the south Asia region, the SOA has a long legacy in central and south America…